1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pneumatic tire having improved steering stability and ride comfort.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to improve steering stability of a vehicle having tires, the tires should offer improved initial responsiveness and steering effort, when cornering.
Initial responsiveness when cornering means an amount of time period until the vehicle reaches in steady turning from when a driver starts steering. As for initial responsiveness, the time period mentioned above is concerned; the shorter, the better. In order to improve initial responsiveness of tires when cornering, side force from tires should be generated as soon as possible from when steering has started.
On the other hand, steering effort means an amount of driver input or muscle it takes to turn or steer wheels. In order to maintain stability of a tire during cornering, steering effort is concerned to have a moderate weight. In order to suitably increase steering effort, sufficient pattern rigidity should be offered on the tread portion of the tire that comes into contact with the road when straight traveling ahead.
However, the tire having an improved tread portion with high pattern rigidity tends to deteriorate not only braking performance on wet roads, but also ride comfort.